Method of making hub shells and like tubular metal articles



y 1930- H. w. KRANZ ET AL 1,760,560

METHOD OF MAKING HUB SHELLS AND LIKE TUBULAR METAL ARTICLES Filed Jan. 31. 1929 k lNVENTORtq/ flarr 2417mm L BY h 32 aamjzz A TTORNEYS Patented May 27,. 1930 v UNITED" STATES PATENT OFFICE HARRY W. KRANZ, OF LAKEWOOD, AND JACOB S. FENZEL, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, AS-

SIGNORS TO THE CLEVELAND WELDING COMPANY, OF

PORATION OF OHIO CLEVELAND, 01110, a con- METHOD OF MAKING HUB SHELLS AND LIKE TUBULAR METAL ARTICLES Application med January a1, 1929. Serial No. 336,483.

The present invention relates to the manufacture of hub shells and similar articles, and its primary object is to provide a method whereby a more desirable distribution of the constituent metal can be obtained. I

More particularly, our invention contemplates a process which involves the circularizing or tubulating of a fiat or substantially flat blank of a suitable metal such as steel, and the then working and forming of the resulting tube in such a manner as to obtain some predetermined distribution and structure of the metal in the article bein produced. In one form of this process, a tu e having walls of substantially uniform thickness is partly reduced in diameter in order to provide additional metal for subsequent reworking into features which are required to possess unusual physical properties; and in another form a tube having walls of unequal thickness is directly worked in order to provide the desired distribution. The especial parts which it is intended to thus improve are those sections with which the inner ends of the spokes engage; but in the making of articles other than hub shells for wire spoked wheels, the details of our provided method can be altered with a View to reinforcing any particular part. As in any case the working required for obtaining the particular shape desired is carried out in a circumferential direction, our method presents a further advantage in that the fibers of the metal are arranged with their axes at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the article as a whole; and this disposition 4 of such fibers further increases or lmproves the advantages which attend the distribution obtained in the above explained manner. In both of the methods just described, the results desired are gotten without its being necessary to use a heavier grade of stock; and this advantage in association with the improved physical characteristics produced by the additional working, and with the convenience, inexpensiveness and adaptability of the gen- .and Fig. 10 is a eral process makes our method superior to the others which are employed for generally similar purposes.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, said invention, then. consists of the means hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims; the annexed drawings and the following description setting forth in detail one approved mode of carrying out the invention, such disclosed mode, however, constituting but one of the various ways in'which the principle of the invention may be used.

In said annexed drawings Fig. l is a perspective View of a blank of the kind which we may employ; Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are perspective views which illustrate the various steps involved in the tubulating of the blank shown in Fig. 1; Figs. 5 to 9, inclusive, are partly sectional and partly elevatlonal views which illustrate the successive operatlons employed for transforming the tube shown in Fig. 4 into the finished article;

perspective view of a modified blank.

In the practice of our invention, a substantially flat and generally rectangular blank of the kind shown in Fig. 1 is first circularized to produce the open ended hoop illustrated in Fig. 2. The ends 10 of this hoop are then heated to a sufficiently high temperaturean'd forced into the upset weld 11 (Fig. 3). Following this, the flash or bur 12 'is removed; and the article then presents the appearance shown in Fig. 4. In the next operation (Fig. 5), the outer .end 13 is reduced in diameter to form the relatively smaller section 14; and in the immediately succeeding operation such section is curled as at 15 and the inner end 16 is expanded or radially enlarged (Fig. 6). The operationsdescribed in connection with Fig. 6 are, in a sense, only preliminary to the operations which result in the article shown in Fig. 7 in other words, the former opera tions are effected with a view to roughly article as so finished, the

formin the article so that it can be accurately s aped and dimensioned b the latter operations. This lastmentione operation, in addition to sizing the outer end of the article, also forms the intermediate an ular art 17; and, if desired, such sizing and ormmg may consist of a primary rolling followed by a secondary shrinking or contracting. In the next succeeding operation, the inner section 16 is flared in the manner shown in Fig. 8; andin" the following operation, the flange 18 is given the final contour shown in Fig. 9, and its inner end is coined as at 19. In the curl or corrugation at the outer end and the outwardly flaring part 20 at the inner end serve as anchors for the s okes which are assembled with the hub and elly.

The above explained operations can be eflected by any suitable apparatus; for example, the blank shown in Fig. 1 can be sheared to the desired size and shape in a punch ress or by means of any other machine a apted to this end; the hoop shown in Fig. 2 can be produced on a rolling machine having three pyramidically arranged rolls, or it may be formed by bumping or rounding on a press or bulldozer between dies; the ringillustrated in Fig. 3 is preferably produced by electric welding; the bur or flash incident to the welding is removed by shearing and grinding; the reduction of the outer end of the article (Fig. 5) may be effected in a nachine provided with a multiplicity of shrinking blocks or dies; the further forming represented in Fig. 6 is effected by means of a s ecial expanding chuck and shaping dies; the form shown 1n Fig. 7 may be imparted by the use of a two-roll rolling machine primarily and by the use of a shrinking machine secondarily; the succeeding flaring operations (Fig. 8) may be effected by suitable dies; and the final form illustrated in Fig. 9 may be imparted by the use of an apparatus similar to that employed in effecting the immediately preceding operation.

From the above description of one form of our im roved method, it will be apparent that the shrinking operation is the primary means of obtaining the desired redistribution of the metal of the walls of the tubular blank; as an alternative means of obtaining a more satisfactory distribution of such metal, a blank of the kind shown in Fig. 10 may be employed. This blank has two portions of different thickness, and when 1t is rolled into a tube and then formed and sha d in the manner above explained, the thidir er portion 21 will provide adequate metal for a part corresponding to the bulge 15, and the thinner part 22 will similarly provide adequate metal for a portion corresponding to the flange 18. The forming and shaping operations may be substantially the same as those explained in connection with the making of an article from a blank of uniform thickness, but as before stated the shrinking o eration may be omitted. The working an lengthwise shortening of the tube in this latter method of practicing our invention presents the same advantages as have already been noted; in other words, these operations are effective to increase the strength of the metal and to improve its suitability to particular ends and for specific purposes.

The stock used in connection with our present method should desirably be so cut or selected that in the finished article the long axes of its fibers will extend circumferentially. In other words, it is preferable that such axes should be disposed in a direction coincident with the direction in which the major part of the working 'occurs; and if this is the fact, such disposition-or arrangement of the fibers, and the working necessary for completing the shaping, will supplement each other in the productiomof a generally improved article. In some cases, this working is effected in opposite directions from dimensions intermediate in magn'tude between the dimensions of the different .parts of the finished article, but in general such final size and shape are determined by the character of the article being made and by the preliminary forming operations, these latter of course being variable according to the particular form desired.-

Other modes of applying the principle of our invention may be em loyed instead of the one explained, change eing made as regards the methodherein disclosed, provided the step or steps stated by any of the following claims or the equivalent of such stated step or steps be employed.

We therefore particularly point out and distinctly claimas our invention 1. In the manufacture of tubular articles of variant diameter, the method which consists in providing a tube, reducing the diameter and circularly corrugating one terminal portion of such tube and then enlarging the diameter of the other terminal portion of such tube.

2. In the manufacture of tubular articles of variant diameter, the method which consists in reducing the diameter of one termi' nal poraon of a tube, in circumferentially bulging the end of such portion, and in then flaring the other terminal portion of such tube.

3. In the manufacture of tubular articles, the method which consists in providing a tube having a wall of diminishing thickness, forming a circumferential bulge in the thick part of such wall, and flaring the thin part of such wall.

4. The method which consists in tubulating a blank, in reducing one end of such tube,

, ing a bl lating a metal strip,

end, and flanging the ot er end.

, 5. The method which consists in a tube, reducing one end of such tube, corrugating such reduced end, flaring the other en flaring the part intermediate such ends,

providing still further flaring such other end, and then coining the part of such other end as so flared.

6. The method which consists in providing a tube having walls which are thick at one end and thin atthe other end, and then res ectively outwardly curling and flanging suc ends. 7. The method of making shells for wire spoked wheels which consists in tubulating a blank, welding the adjacent edges of such tube, and then providing the end portions of the resulting article with enlargements foranchoring the inner ends of the spokes.

8. The method which consists in tubulatank, shrinking one end of such tube, forming such shrunk end into an anchorage for the outer series of the s okes of a wire such tube, bulging the end portions of such tube and then forming such bulged portions into anchorages for the spokes of a wire strung whee v 15. The method which consists in providing a tube-like blank, thickening parts of such blank, and then rollin portions of such thickened parts to provi e outwardly directed pro'ections.

Signed y us, this 28th day of January,

' HARRY W. KRANZ. JACOB S. FENZEL.

strung wheel, and forming t e other end of such tube into an anchorage for the inner series of the spokes of such a wheel.

9. The method which consists in providing a tube-like blank, locally thickening the metal of such blank, annularly bulging such thickened portion and then forming such' bulged portion into spoke anchorages.

.10. In the manufacture of tubular metal articlesof varyingdiameter, the steps which consist in reducing the diameter of one end of a substantiall cylindrical tube to provide an increased thickness of metal, and then working such metal outwardly to form an inwardly directed groove in such end.

11. In the manufacture of tubular metal articles of varying diameter, the steps which consist in reducing the diameter of one end of a substantially cylindrical tube to provide an increased thickness of metal, working such metal outwardly to form an inwardly directed groove in such end, and working the iriietal of the other end outwardly to form a ange.

12. In the manufacture of tubular metal articles of varying diameter, the steps which consist in reducing the diameter of one end of a substantially cylindrical tube to provide an increased thickness of metal, and then working such end outwardly to form an in-' wardly directed grooveand an inwardly directed flan e.

13. In t e manufacture of tubular metal articles of varying diameter,the steps which consist in reducing the diameter of one end of a substantiallycylindrical tubeto provide an increased thickness of metal, working such metal outwardly to form an inwardly directed groove in such end, and flaring such tube from such groove towards the other end.

14. The method which consists in tubuin welding the edges of 

